KEENE, N.H. 9/28/11 – In a battle between the top two teams in the Little East Conference, the Keene State College Owls dropped in-state rival Plymouth State 3-0 on Wednesday night at Owl Athletic Complex. KSC remains undefeated in league action at 4-0 and 7-2 overall, while the Panthers drop their first game of the season and fall to 7-1 and 3-1 in conference action.

"Plymouth has a great team this year and we knew we had to be ready," said KSC head coach Amy Watson. "I don't think the score is indicative of how close this game really was."

The Panthers had many more corner opportunities than KSC, with 13 to the Owls three. But Keene State converted on two of the three chances they had. "The difference was our defense held strong and stymied a lot of their chances," said Watson. They had a lot of chances that they created with their speed and talent but we buckled down. Offensively we capitalized when we needed to."

KSC got the scoring started early, just three minutes and 49 seconds into the contest, as senior midfielder Alyce Ferenc (Rumney, N.H./Plymouth Regional) took a cross out of mid-air from senior midfielder Jacki Benson (Hampstead, N.H./Pinkerton) and buried it past the Panther netminder for the early 1-0 lead. "Alyce has really stepped up her game this year," said Watson. "She is always in the right place at the right time and has really become an offensive leader for us out of the midfield position this year."

With seven minutes remaining in the first half, the Owls added to their lead, as junior forward Kalin Billert (Center Conway, N.H./Kennett) took a rebound and buried it in traffic for the 2-0 advantage into halftime.

At the 41:41 mark, KSC scored the final goal of the contest, as senior forward Niki Smith (Southwick, Mass.) rocketed a one-timer into the top right corner from senior midfielder Aislynn Sherry (Rehoboth, Mass.) for the 3-0 key conference victory.

In goal for the Owls, freshman goalkeeper Caitlin Davino-Draper (Hanover, Mass.) set aside five shots for the shutout victory, while Panther shot-stopper Hilary Lemelin (Milan, N.H./Berlin) had four saves and allowed three goals in the losing effort.

KSC outshot PSU 11-9 on the contest.

Both teams return to conference action this Saturday, as the Owls will host Western Conn. State at 1:30 at Owl Athletic Complex, while Plymouth will travel to Eastern Conn. State for a 1 p.m. start.